A masterpiece. Beautifully written. sick and twisted. Oh…the prose. Lets discuss it.
" I always wanted to be loved by the communist party and the mother church. I wanted to live in a folk song like Joe Hill. I wanted to weep for the innocent people my bomb would have to maim.I wanted to thank the peasant father who fed us on the run.I wanted to wear my sleeve pinned in half, people smiling while I salute with the wrong hand. I wanted to be against the rich, eventhough some of them knew Dante: just before his destruction one of them would learn that I knew Dante, too. I wanted my face carried in Peking, a poem written down my shoulder. I wanted to smile at dogma, yet ruin my ego against it. I wanted to confront the machines of Broadway. I wanted Fifth Avenue to remember it’s Indian trails."
I wanted to like this, I really did. Leonard Cohen is one of my very favorite artists, and I love his poetry. But I found Beautiful Losers very hard to follow, even though (you’re right) there are some gorgeous passages all through it. (I like the “religious medals of all kinds…be with me to witness the ordeal of Katherine Tekakwitha” litany, for one.)
But as a whole work, I’m afraid it just doesn’t do anything for me. (Cohen’s Book of Mercy – now, there is a masterpiece.)
Plus, the Catholic in me was made very uncomfortable with all the lusting after saints. I really tried to be detached and objective, but…I failed.
I’m sorry – I left out the reason I found it hard to follow: it was too disjointed. Though I must admit I didn’t try very hard to make sense of it.
I’ll stick to Cohen’s poetry.
I do agree it was hard to follow. I just knew I had to stick through it. It was very disturbing at times, but even more disturbing was that I found it in my moms book collection.:eek:
its a classic work of art, definately doesn’t go down easy, but if you want easy-reading pick up Grisham or Steven King…reading this book is worth it.
My husband introduced me to Steven King only months ago. I always thought of Kings books as being guilty pleasure type books. I would never let any of my reader friends see me reading King. But I really thoroughly enjoyed it. I am reading The Stand right now. I just finished the Watchers. I loved Einstein. I also just finished Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. It is funny how they can all relate to one another. I may have read a Grisham book before. Does a terriorist attack on Yankee stadium sound familiar, I may be totally off. Long time ago. In the past I have always tried to stick with challenging reads, but I do enjoy a quick read. I am glad my hubby got me to try something different.
I love the stand. When I first picked it up, I expected it to be incredibly turgid and boring, but it was surprisingly colorful, fun and it went by fast. Definitely a fun summer read that makes people take a second look when they see the 10 pound tome in your hands. 
Beautiful Losers… read it maybe 5 years ago, when I first started listening to Leonard Cohen. I remember many vivid images from it – the danish vibrator? – but, like Gallows Fodder, I did find it quite disjointed. A lovely, drug induced collage of images, but I wasn’t able to find a cohesive whole… maybe if I read it again, though?
I liked it a lot, especially the first section, which was a wonderful piece of stream-of-consciousness. The detail about the 17th century catholicism I think works really well as part of a meditation about the relationship between sex and religion (or between asceticism and sexual masochism).
It’s certainly a very intelligent and philosophical novel, and being as it’s by a songwriter it’s unsurprising that its strength lies more in imagery and internal monologue than in plot. It’s also a good deal funnier and more varied than his songs from the 1960s.
I do have a question though: could someone tell me WTF happened at the end (with spoiler tags obviously)?